The Holy Belt Of The Theotokos
(The Deposition of the Precious Sash -Cincture- of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos)Translated from Greek by John Constantinidis
Written by Father Demetrios Serfes
1st March 1999 Boise, Idaho U.S.A.

Relic box of the Precious Belt -Sash- Cincture,
of the TheotokosCommemorated on 31 August

In The Name Of The Father,
The Son,
And The Holy Spirit:

Tropar -Dismissal Hymn- of the Mother of God.

Plagal of the Fourth Tone

O EVER-VIRGIN Theotokos, shelter of mankind, thou hast
bestowed upon thy people a mighty investure, even thine immaculate body's
raiment and sash, which by thy seedless childbirth have remained incorrupt;
for in thee nature and time are made new. Wherefore, we implore thee
to grant peace to the world, and great mercy to our souls.*

Kontakion of the Mother of God

Second Tone

THY precious sash, O Theotokos, which encompassed thy
God-receiving womb, is an invincible force for thy flock, and an unfailing
treasury of every good, O only Ever-virgin Mother. **

THE MOST VENERABLE and full of grace Belt of our Blessed Virgin Mary,
which is found at the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi in Agios Oros (Holy
Mt. Athos), is the only precious souvenir that survives from her earthly
life.

According to the Sacred Tradition and the history of our Church, the
Most Holy Theotokos three days after she fell asleep she rose from the
dead and ascended in body to the heavens. During her ascension, she gave
her Holy Belt to the Apostle Thomas. Thomas, a long with the rest
of the holy Apostles, opened up her grave and didn't find the body of the
Theotokos. In this way the Holy Belt is proof for our Church of her Resurrection
and bodily ascension to the heavens, and, in a word, at her metastasis.

Monastery of Vateopedi,
Holy Mt. Athos

The Holy Belt, according to the tradition, was made by the Blessed Virgin
Mary herself with camel hair. The Empress Zoi, wife of Leo 6th the
Wise, out of gratitude for her miraculous cure, embroidered the Belt with
gold thread, as it is found today, but divided in three pieces. Originally
it was being kept in Jerusalem and later in Constantinople. There
during the 12th century under Manuel A' Komninos (1143-1180) an official
holiday for the Belt was established on August 31st. In the end,
Emperor John the 6th Katakouzinos (1347-1355), who had a special love toward
the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi, as is evidence by many related accounts,
donated the Belt to the Monastery. Since then the Holy Belt is kept
at the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi, in a silver case of newer manufacture
which depicts the Monastery. On the bottom right border of the depiction
the artist made the drawing of the donor Emperor Katakouzinos along in
the a sign which refers to his donation to the Monastery.

Numerous are the miracles, that have taken place up to today with the
Holy Belt. Its value is priceless because it's associated to the Blessed
Virgin Mary. She has the grace and to her the miraculous power is
attributed, which with many ways she transmits to the faithful.

The Holy Belt maintains unaltered the grace of the Most Holy Theotokos,
because it became connected with her person and her life and because saints
are spirit carriers during not their life, but also after their death.
The same phenomenon is mentioned in the Holy Scriptures when objects that
the Prophet Elias and the holy Apostles wore actually performed miracles,
because they had the grace of the saints. For this reason the Church attributes
it honorary worship, as it does to the Holy Wood of the Cross of the Lord.

The Holy Belt has the unique grace to cure women's sterility as well
as cancer patients, with a ribbon that has firstly been blessed on the
Belt and is subsequently worn by the sterile women and patients.

The Tropar also known as the Dismissal Hymn, as well as the Kontakion
is a translation from: The Great Horologion, translated from the Greek
by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston, Massachusetts, 1997., p.
594

I would like to humbly thank Dejan for sending me this information
in Greek, and for John Constantinidis for his translation from the Greek.